Holidays helping banana shipments

This year’s Christmas and New Year’s Day holidays are working in favour of banana shipments. “With the holidays falling perfectly on the weekend, I don’t see a decline in service or production as we would have if the holiday fell in the middle of the week,” says Phillip Cuccerre of Hidalgo, TX-based Le Best Banana Supply Co. “With production at normal pace and equipment in place, everything seems to be flowing perfectly.”

Ready to ripen
Normally, says Cuccerre, when the holidays fall in the middle of the week, the two weekends around those holidays make it a challenge to ripen fruit because retailers don’t know what their demand will be post-holiday. But the weekend holidays for 2016 mean retailers and Le Best can project demand better. “Our bananas can arrive in the United States three days post-harvest and be in a ripener’s warehouse and then be available at a retailer eight to 10 days post-harvest, unlike container vessel bananas that arrive some 14-16 days post-harvest,” he says. Le Best/Carmelita Brand Bananas’ close proximity to the market enables its family-owned farms to harvest bananas at their peak maturity.

Increasing interest in Carmelita Plus 24 ct Premium Finger
Meanwhile, Le Best/Carmelita Plus 24 ct premium finger bananas continues to gain interest according to the company “It’s something we wish to introduce more to the foodservice industry segments as well as convenience stores or coffee shops,” he says. “It’s a segment of banana you really see growing and is attractive as a snack alternative. We’ve seen a lot of interest due to the lower cost..."

Phillip Cuccerre
Le Best Banana Supply Co. Inc.
Tel: +1 832 559 7294
pcuccerre@carmelita.mx